The Perfect Fudgy Brownie (Grain-Free, Paleo, Gluten Free)

Sometimes you want a crumbly, cake-like bar and sometimes you crave a dense, fudgy brownie. If I’m going to eat some chocolate, I want the flavor to knock me between the eyes. Do you know what I mean?

For over a year, I played with different brownie recipes, hoping to find “the one.” Mission accomplished. No one can tell they’re grain-free and they are creamy and intensely bittersweet. They’re so rich that I cut them into 16 tiny squares. Those two delicious bites of brownie were enough to satisfy. I plan to make these for the family on Valentine’s Day and possibly every potluck from here on out.

Makes 16 one-inch brownies, or 9 larger brownies

The Best Fudgy Brownies (Grain-Free, Paleo, Gluten Free)

They do contain quite a bit of sweetener, so remember to consume in moderation. I used coarse Celtic sea salt since we enjoyed the pop of salt in the densely sweet bar. If you use ghee, reduce the amount to 5 tablespoons. Adapted from Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy by Alice Medrich.

Preheat oven to 350 ºF and adjust rack to middle position. Butter an 8-inch glass square pan . Place butter and chocolate in the bowl of a double boiler. Melt over low heat. Remove chocolate mixture from heat and whisk in sugar, sea salt, and vanilla extract. Whisk in eggs one at a time. Whisk in tapioca flour and coconut flour. Let batter sit for 5 minutes (this allows the coconut flour to absorb some of the moisture). Pour batter into the buttered baking dish and smooth into an even layer. Bake for 25-30 minutes until edges are just pulling away from the sides and middle is still just a touch moist. Cool and then cut into squares. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

152 Comments

I haven't tested any substitutes. If you don't like to use tapioca flour, I suggest trying my other grain-free brownie recipe made with coconut flour: https://deliciouslyorganic.net/chocolate-brownies-paleo-grain-free-lunchskins/

When baking gluten free, I often interchanged tapioca with cornstarch, potato starch or arrowroot. I think I would try arrowroot first, then maybe cornstarch. Potato starch tends to be a bit 'heavier'. Um.. did you notice the ingredients and the instructions are in the wrong place in the recipe? LOL

I used ground almonds (almond flour?) instead of the tapioca and it worked perfectly. I looked up tapioca flour and there seems to be almost no nutritional benefit in it, so using a nut flour gives added goodness. I find ground almonds a good substitute for flour in most cake recipes.

Are these just Grain-Free and not Gluten-Free? And the only difference between this recipe and the "other grain-free brownie recipe made with coconut flour" is that this one has tapioca flour? Hopefully this isn't too confusing...

I can't wait to try these. I have recently gone Paleo for myself and I think my husband fears he will never see another "goodie" come from our kitchen;) Thanks for sharing! I also appreciate that you put the links to the different ingredients in your recipes. It is very helpful to me.

Hi Carrie, I just clicked on your email you sent re: the brownie and also saw where you make your own sausage and I forwarded the email to my sister and couple of friends and now it's not on there.....I went back to your site and searched for it a and it says no recipe found for homemade sausage !!!! maybe I had the wrong name for it...can you please tell me where I can find it again or send it to me..... thanks

OMG - I've so missed dense fudgy brownies since I've been grain free! These totally hit the spot - even when I misread the amount of coconut flour and added 2 T instead of 2 t! I added a bit of coconut milk for more moisture to cover up the mistake and they we absolutely DELISH!!!

So delicious! I added a small amount of crushed pecans. I'll definitely make them again, however, I may try your grain-free version to try to avoid the insulin rush from the high carb/sugar tapioca! Especially since few of us can eat just one! lol I would also bake at 350 degrees for 25min as the edges slightly burned at 30-35min. Or I'll reduce my oven to 325degrees. The family really enjoyed them! Thanks

Just made these (with 6 TB of ghee instead of 5, accidentally) and they are SO good! My husband usually doesn't like brownies but he said these are the best he's ever tasted, and they're perfect for my sensitivities. This is my new go-to brownie recipe.

Outstanding recipe....I'm super picky on baked goods! The flavor is amazing, my first batch we over baked, but they were brownie brittle! I did not have tapioca flour, but learned on web that cornstarch can be used but half the amount. I used regular white sugar. Not sure I'd use coconut oil, as it tends to overpower the buttery taste I want from baked goods. Can not to share with my fellow foodies!

I made these tonight. I used unsweetened baking chocolate and added 1/2 tsp. of powdered Stevia (since I can't have cane sugar). I also subbed arrowroot powder for tapioca flour & they still turned out great!

Thanks Carrie for sending me the link for the sausage....planning on making it soon.....these fudgy brownies really look good,...just wondering ,what can be used instead of coconut flour and tapioca flour ?

I just made these and they turned out AMAZING! Loved the sea salt. I didn't have bittersweet chocolate so I used semi-sweet and 4 TBS. of coconut oil in place of the butter. Thank you very much for the recipe!

Carrie, I have to congratulate you and thank you for an AMAZING brownie recipe. We have been GAPS/Paleo for a year and I have tried numerous brownie recipes and always been disappointed. Thanks for a great treat! You are amazing!

These are delicious! I added a few extra dark chocolate chips on top to make them a little extra indulgent for my birthday. I just started eating Paleo/Grain-Free-ish and it was nice to know there are brownies that are just as good or better than traditional brownies. Thank you!

Finally! I have tried about 7 other brownie recipes and they were all terrible. I was losing hope in ever finding a paleo brownie. So many wasted ingredients and I found yours which had the tapioca flour so I had high hopes as I use it to make paleo pizza crust all the time. These are as close to real non cake like brownies as I am going to get. Thank you! If anyone was debating on any other brownie recipe do this one for sure!

I have made these 3 times now and they are fantastic. I used dark chocolate morsels instead of bittersweet and baked it in a metal 8" x 8" for 25 minutes, which was perfect. I also added walnuts. I made them the second time as brownie bites and used a mini muffin pan for the batter. I baked it for 20 minutes and they turned out great. I just love these brownies. Thank you for posting it.

These are indeed the 'Perfect (grain-free) Fudgy Brownie'. I've made this recipe several times and it is my 'go-to' grain-free brownie. I make them dairy free with coconut oil and yes, they do come out oily, but after the first time I made them I have tried to cut the coconut oil down to about 5 skimpy tablespoons.

I made a couple of substitutions - chia eggs and coconut oil. I don't recommend subbing chia….they are still edible and delicious, but the oil separated from the batter. Very odd. We are still enjoying them however :) It is just a different texture!

I just wanted to say, I am a brownie freak. I have been searching for the perfect grain free brownie recipe for two years now, and I have finally found out! You weren't kidding, these are THE best. Completely rival (and better) our former fave box mix - Triple Chunk Brownies. Thank you!!!!

These are THE BEST BROWNIES! Ive made them twice already- I will never be making box brownies ever again. I didnt think an 8x8 pan would work, bc there isnt really that much batter, so I think my pan is about 6-7"x4-5". Thank you SO much for this recipe!!

These brownies are delicious!!! Someone asked about calories and, according to My Fitness Pal, 16 pieces equals about 170 cal each. I wrapped each piece and froze them...first batch lasted only a week, ha! Second batch just came out of the oven :) Thank you SO MUCH for sharing this recipe!

These look so good! I have one question. The recipe says bittersweet chocolate, but the link is for semi-sweet chocolate. Just wondering if it matters which one I use? I have the Enjoy Life semi-sweet chips already, but I could get some bittersweet ones if that is what you recommend. Thanks!

Hi, so I tried the recipe, first time I do brownies. I couldn't find the the enjoy life chocolate chips in London. I used 72% dark raw chocolate. I used all the other ingredients as you mentioned in the recipe. The brownie came out really intensely tasty and chewy but dominated by the aroma of the raw chocolate. The inside was nice and smooth, the top was harder but not as crunches yours looks. Also mine was all dark color and while I chew its a bit dry in the mouth. I mean its moisty in my hands though. Yours is more light brown on the top an darker in the middle. How do I get it to be more like yours? Both in color and crunchier on top. Also less dry when i chew it. Thank you for your help.

Hello! I came across these on my pinterest and am always looking for a new fudgy brownie recipe to try! I am gluten free, corn free and rice free and so this recipe looks great for all my allergies! But I just had one question about the sugar.. Can it be replaced with just brown sugar, white sugar, or sugar in the raw? I spend so much money on my other special foods, I admit my sugars are pretty unhealthy, but those are the only types I have, and I am on a tight budget. Thank you!

LOVED it!!!! These imitated the richness of a Ghiradelli brownie. All I did was add some walnuts and my dad was on cloud nine. Seriously, I'm pretty sure he ate half the pan despite your warning about the high sugar content..... Thanks for posting! :) Reviewed it on my blog too.

I was so excited when I found this because I'm doing the paleo thing right now and the struggle for wanting chocolate is REAL... But this calls for butter or ghee. Neither of those are paleo approved. What can be substituted? The coconut sugar isn't paleo either. Can stevia be used instead?

I think this recipe will satisfy your chocolate craving! :) Ghee and coconut sugar area allowed on the Paleo diet. I only test the recipes on my site with the listed ingredients and measurements. If you would like to try a substitution, you are welcome to share what you used and how it turned out in the comments below. Thanks!

I. Am. In. Love. I've never come across a recipe that claimed it was the best, and it actually was. This recipe has proven to me that there is still hope with this paleo diet. THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART!

I've made these a few times and something is just off...I can't nail it! They really are delicious, moist, and densely fudge. I've tried playing with the coconut flour amounts to see if I can get a different consistency, but that doesn't seem to help. The only thing I can chalk it up to is high altitude (I'm in Colorado). I will continue to play with this one a bit.

These are the best paleo brownies I've ever baked. My whole family--most of whom are not gluten-free or paleo eaters--loved them. I used Enjoy Life Baking Chunks and just melted them over the stove with the butter: no double boiler necessary! I'm not sure if some other chocolate might seize up, but the Enjoy Life Chunks were fine over low heat. Thanks so much for the great recipe!!

I just finished cooling these a bit and they are so crumbly! I followed the recipe exactly, except that I realized I had semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of bittersweet... would that make that much of a difference? I'd love to try these again on Thursday night to take to a work potluck on Friday but I don't want to take sad crumbly brownies!

Cool completely before slicing. They will be crumbly if cut into before completely cool. Also, don't drag a knife through them in an up and down motion. One dip down and then all the way through to the end before bringing the knife back up. These are the BEST brownies I have EVER made, better than boxed, better than home made with regular flour, better than any other! Moist, fudgie and RICH !! Even my junk loving roommate raised his eyebrows with appreciation and then stole another one!

I only test the recipes on my site with the listed ingredients and measurements. If you would like to try a substitution, you are welcome to share what you used and how it turned out in the comments below. Thanks!

Oh man, it's kind of bad that I found this recipe. They're dangerously good. My kids even said they're better than "normal brownies". But I've recently switched to a paleo diet and have been craving brownines for some time, so seriously, thank you for sharing this recipe. I'm grateful. <3

Hi Carrie, love to cook - baking, not so much...Since I've been eating a Paleo diet, I've had to learn how to bake because I still like something sweet occasionally. This recipe is so easy and it's the best brownie I've eaten in a long, long time. It is definitely the best Paleo brownie ever. Thank you so much for this recipe!

The first time I made this recipe it came out amazing. The brownies were fudgy and smooth and everyone loved them...my four year old even proclaimed that she liked them more than she liked my mother in laws cookie bars (made with wheat flour, white sugar, veg oil, etc)! The only thing I did differently was use some Guittard chocolate chips since I didn't have the Enjoy Life brand on hand. I made another batch this morning to bring to a get together, and since I had planned to make them, I bought some Enjoy Life chocolate chips to use. They were a disaster! The batter was gummy and surrounded by a layer of oil...I was concerned but I baked them anyway...they were so oily that I left them in five minutes longer to see if any of it would bake off. Unfortunately they were just oily and overbaked...and mealy in texture! I went back to the recipe and clicked the affiliate link for the chocolate chips and it brought me to an Amazon page for the SEMI-SWEET Enjoy Life chocolate chips specifically. I checked out the ingredients and sure enough they were different from the dark chocolate chocolate chips by Enjoy Life that I used! (Evaporated Cane Juice, Natural Chocolate Liquor (Non-Alcoholic), Non-Dairy Cocoa Butter for the semi sweet, Dark chocolate liquor, cane sugar for the dark chocolate). I definitely think it's worth specifying in the recipe that the semi sweet in particular must be used, rather than just hoping people will click on the link. It would certainly save someone wasted time, energy and ingredients! Most definitely worth making with the appropriate chocolate chips though!

I'm sorry to hear you had issues with this recipe. In general, the reason butter or oil will separate in a thick brownie batter (like this one) is because the batter wasn't mixed enough to throughly incorporate all of the ingredients. Next time, I would make sure to throughly mix the batter. Also, it's possible it's the brand of coconut flour. I test all of my recipes with Bob's Red Mill. I've found that when I test with other coconut flours, sometimes the moisture in the batter is higher. I've tested this recipe with various brands of chocolate chips and haven't had an issue, so I'd look into mixing and your coconut flour. I hope that helps! :)

I love this recipe so much and was wondering if you have other dessert recipes using tapioca flour instead of almond flour. Maybe a chocolate chip cookies or something like that. The texture seems to stay intact with the tapioca flour. Thanks.

Finally made these today after pinning forever ago. Used 1/4 cup Spectrum shortening instead of the butter/ghee. I used 2 Tbsp tapioca and 3 Tbsp 1tsp almond flour (couldn't decide which way to go). I forgot to let the batter sit before putting it into the pan. Oh well. They were absolutely delish. Thank you.

I baked them for 30 minutes and they came out very dry :( The batter was delicious though, I think it was just that the baking time is too long, especially since there isn't very much batter... if I try these again I will bake it for less time.

I may have missed this but didn't see a post asking about this yet: you mentioned that they are really sweet, as is. So could the amount of sugar be decreased without harming the recipe? I have been off all sugar, including fruits, for over a month now. I love chocolate, especially fudgy chocolate brownies. Just trying to get an idea of how little I can put in without messing up the recipe. Thank you!

I havne't tested the recipe with different measurements other than what I published, but these do freeze really well! So, you can cut them into little bites, freeze and just eat a small amount when you'd like. :)

[…] The Perfect Fudgy Brownie (Grain-Free, Paleo, Gluten Free) Sometimes you want a crumbly, cake-like bar and sometimes you crave a dense, fudgy brownie. If I’m going to eat some chocolate, I want the flavor to knock me between the eyes. Do you know what I mean? The Best Fudgy Brownies (Grain-Free, Paleo, Gluten Free) They do contain quite a bit of sweetener, so remember to consume in moderation. Deliciously Organic […]

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